EPA Denies Ethanol Waiver

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) denied the request from state governors and several livestock groups to waive the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS). The EPA said it did not find enough evidence that the RFS would cause serve “economic harm,” the primary argument for a waiver. EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation said, “We recognize that this year's drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers. But our extensive analysis makes clear that congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact." A coalition of livestock, poultry and dairy organizations commented, “How many more jobs and family farms have to be lost before we change this misguided policy and create a level playing field on the free market for the end users of corn? It is now abundantly clear that this law is broken. We will explore remedies to fix it.” Fuels America, a coalition of renewable fuels stakeholders thanked EPA “for recognizing the importance of the policy to lowering gas prices and reducing our dependence on foreign oil and the role of the drought, not renewable fuels, in driving current commodity prices.” The RFS requires 13.8 billion gallons of corn-based ethanol to be blended into gasoline in 2013.